Response to Readings

 Kenneth L. Ames did a fantastic job in describing the layout of a 19^th Century Victorian house in his article “Meaning in Artifacts: Hall Furnishings in Victorian America. I was able close my eyes and specifically visual the hallways with furniture and the décor that was most likely displayed in these upper-middle class homes. The piece of furniture that I found to be appealing was the hallstand. This piece of furniture was huge and usually in the front of the hall placed where everyone who entered the house could see it.  The residents hung and placed objects on the hallstand that were used frequently such as coats and hats or displayed items of some type of sentimental value to them on the shelves for all to see. Mirrors were also sometimes attached to the hallstands enabling those to get a glimpse of their self when entering or exiting the house.

Since hairwork was extremely popular in Victorian American I envisioned that perhaps a friendship album or hairwork album discussed in “Love Entwined, The Curious History of Hairwork in America,” by Helen Sheumaker would be an object placed on a hallstand. Hairwork would represent a person so intimately since it was a piece of their body. Depending on friends who might have sent the resident of the house their hairwork with their hair and a personal note attached, a friendship album or hairwork album could be a tremendous object to show off to their guests their status in society by the people they knew.

Hairwork was something that was handmade and usually made by women.  This gave extreme value to it especially if it was made for someone as a gift, such as hair jewelry or a hair wreath made of family members hair. Handmade objects meant that time and hard work was put into. It made that object have a personal meaning for the person who was receiving it. The 1856 wedding gown that I am researching this semester was handmade. Perhaps the woman who wore the wedding gown had a hallstand in her home and was able to get a last look at herself before she exited the house on her way to her wedding ceremony.

Women would create their hairwork pieces at home but once completed some were lucky enough to have their items displayed in public. Whether or not the entire town had a chance to see their work they would still display it in their homes allowing all of their guests to admire it’s beauty. This reminded me of the wedding gown. Although it was made at home and took time and hard work it was made for the bride to wear in public for people to notice and admire it.

As Karin Dannehl describes in her article “Object Biographies,” every object like a person has a story of how it was made and the purpose for which it was made. The object when we see it now will never again be like the object it was when it was first created because it has gone through its stages of life. However we can still get a grasp of the purpose and history of the object.